Chapter 2

Having been woken by Craig's shouts of annoyance over the juicer waking him up, Pippa shuffles through the house towards the kitchen where she found the rest of the family gathered, discussing their plans for the day.

"Can I come?" She begs as she enters the kitchen having heard the boys talking about heading to the beach, completely unfazed by Craig walking around butt naked. She wraps her arms around Deran's shoulders from behind, hugging her body to his, catching J's eye over his shoulder, the other teen giving her a small smile before looking away quickly. "Please!"

"You've got school." Baz states, pointing his finger at her. "I'll drop you off on the way home."

"So does J!" She protests, motioning over at J who glances away.

"He gets a free pass today." He replies, ignoring her glare.

"Craig took you to the beach yesterday." Deran says, reaching back to pinch Pippa in the side.

"So?"

"So. Not today. You have school." Baz states, giving Pippa a pointed look as she frowns at him. Pippa often found that when it came to the three older guys, Baz was always the one to be tough on her, the disciplinarian of the three, Craig was the one to give in to her too easily, feeling sorry for the young girl having no real family relationships, also being the one she would go to whenever she needed comfort, and Deran, he was just there for the ride, but the pair were often found play fighting in the pool, he was the brother Pippa would go to for a bit of fun.

"Meanie." She moans, sticking her tongue out at him and then Craig who was trying to suppress a laugh as she slides away from Deran, pouting.

"I'll take you later." Deran calls as Pippa grabs Baz's coffee mug from the side and an apple, ignoring them both as she heads back to her room, unaware of J's eyes following her as she made her way down the hallway again.

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Pippa can hear the music blaring from the back of the house the minute she rides into the street, internally rolling her eyes at the crazy party she had no doubt was going on by the pool. She dumps her bike in its usual spot in the garage, pulling a face as she slides past a couple making out against the side of the house as she takes in the scene in front of her, pausing to watch Baz take a running jump off the roof. She shields her eyes from the sun, as he pulls himself out of the pool, jogging over to her to give her a quick hug.

"Sorry about this morning." He whispers in her ear, the young girl shrugging against his body.

"S'ok. I get it." She replies as she pulls back, waving over to Lena who jumps up, running over to the waiting arms of her 'aunt'.

"Hey lovey!" Pippa coos, squeezing Lena tightly before gently dropping her back to the ground.

"You gonna join us?" Baz calls over his shoulder as he takes Lena's hand, guiding her back over to Cath who waves at Pippa.

"Sure. Let me just go and get changed." Pippa calls back, turning her attention back to the roof as the crowd begin to chant J's name.

Up on the roof, J scans the crowd, unconsciously searching for the familiar face of Pippa. He spots her, giving her a small smile as she lifts her hand in a wave. Pippa feels her heart begin to race as she spots Craig behind J, watching him for a second before turning her attention back to J who's eyes were still fixed on her face. His eyes bore into hers, silently asking if he should jump, the teenager shrugging in reply, knowing that even if he chose not to, the minute Craig's body collided with his, he'd no longer have a choice. Pippa holds her breath as her eyes flick back to Craig the second he runs at J, pulling him off the roof with him, both of them landing with a splash into the water.

"That was a stupid thing to do." Pippa scolds Craig as he pulls himself out of the pool, brushing quickly past him. Craig rolls his eyes, ignoring her statement, turning away from Pippa as she heads towards the house, pausing to drop a kiss to Smurf's cheek as she passes. J watches her go as he pulls himself to sit on the edge of the pool, Pippa pushing through the crowd to enter the house. He waits a few minutes, eyes flicking between his uncles and the door Pippa had disappeared through before pushing himself out of the water, quickly heading the same way she had just gone. He pauses in the doorway of her room, knocking on the slightly ajar door.

"Yeah?" She calls, reaching out to pull the door open, offering J a small smile. "You ok?"

"Yeah. You coming out?" He asks, hovering in the doorway.

"In a minute. Yeah." She replies, resting against her door, arms crossed over her chest. "Craig's a dick."

"He's ok." J defends, leaning on the doorframe opposite Pippa.

"That was a stupid thing for him to do, you could have been hurt."

"I didn't. I'm ok." He emphasises, reaching out to squeeze her hand. "I'll see you out there." Pippa nods, pushing the door shut again behind her as she pulls her t-shirt over her head, quickly pulling on her swimming suit before following J out to the pool.

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"Knock knock." Pippa calls as she hovers in J's doorway a few days later, rapping her knuckles on the doorframe. "You up?"

"Yeah...yeah. Just about." J replies with a smile, pushing himself up on to his elbows to look over at Pippa.

"Baz is about to head back home, he offered to drop me at the beach on the way. Did you wanna come too? Like we talked about the other day?" She asks, resting against the doorframe.

"Uh, yeah. Sure." J says, giving Pippa a soft smile as she grins over at him, bouncing on her toes as she turns to head back through the house.

"I'll grab you a coffee!" She calls over her shoulder as J slowly slides out of bed, a smile now etched on his face.

Pippa lets out a whoop of excitement as she paddles up to J, moving to sit on her board beside him.

"How awesome was that wave?" She exclaims with a laugh, pushing her hair out of her eyes.

"Pretty awesome." J replies with a laugh of his own, smiling over at her, his eyes fixed to the giant grin on her face. "You were pretty awesome too."

"I got lucky." She jokes, winking at him as she ducks her hand into the water, splashing him. "You're pretty awesome too." She states quietly, turning her head to the side to avoid J's eye as she blushes deeply. "Shall we head back? Get some food?" J hums in agreement, copying Pippa as she lays back down on her board, paddling back to shore.

After finding a coffee shop not too far away from the beach, J heads back to the sand to where he had left Pippa sat watching their surf boards; she smiles up at him as he reaches down, passing her the food and coffee he had bought, before dropping down on to the sand beside her.

"Deran's going to stop by and pick us up." She says as he gets settled on the sand, taking a bite of the pastry he had given her. "This was nice. We should do it again sometime." J smiles again as Pippa turns to look back out at the water, reaching forward to gently tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Yeah. Definitely." He agrees, letting his fingers brush against her cheek as he pulls his hand away. "Where'd you learn to surf like that?" Pippa laughs as the memory, pausing to take a sip of her drink before turning her body to face J's.

"Craig and Deran," she starts, tucking her knees to her chest, resting her cheek on her knees. "They used to go out nearly every morning, and I'd sit in the kitchen with Smurf and watch them go. I'd complain all morning until they came back about how much I wanted to go with them. I think Smurf finally got sick of my whining and made the boys take me." She laughs again, shaking her head as she thinks back to that first time they had taken her out on her own surf board. "God I was such a mess out there. Obviously, I didn't know a thing. I was like, 11, I think? But, Craig stuck with it, and eventually, I could surf on my own. What about you? How did you get into surfing?"

"It was just something to do to get out of the house." J replies, shrugging his shoulders. "It's just a hobby, something I've always enjoyed, I just picked it up more recently."

"You're good out there." Pippa says softly, nodding towards the water as J smiles at her. "I had fun. Thanks for coming with me."

"Of course." J nods, looking Pippa in the eye, slowly inching his head closer to hers. Pippa smiles softly again as she tilts her head up, bringing her lips just centimetres away from his; just as their lips brush, a car horn blares from behind them, making the pair jump apart, both whipping their heads around to find Deran sat behind the wheel of his car waving over at them.

"Jesus." Pippa mutters, running a hand through her hair as she gathers up her things, rising from the sand at the same time as J. "We should, uh..." she trails off, motioning towards Deran as J nods, clearing his throat as he lifts his surfboard off the ground.

"Uh, yeah." He mutters, leading the way off the beach and towards Deran who smirks as Pippa as she places her board in the back of the car.

"Stop it." She grumbles as she slides into the seat behind him, giving his seat a hard kick for good measure as he starts up the engine, letting out a chuckle as he backs out of the parking space.

"So, you lovebirds have fun?"